1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses, systems, and methods consistent with the present invention relate to upgrading a codec, and more particularly, to upgrading to a new codec used in a digital broadcasting environment, and providing codec information for content information such as an electronic program guide (EPG).
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent introduction of new digital broadcasting environments, such as Internet Protocol (IP) televisions (TVs) and satellite broadcasting, services are now provided using a variety of codecs.
In addition, TV stations are making efforts to transmit higher quality pictures. However, commercial TVs have a built-in MPEG-2 codec, and thus do not support various additional formats.
Broadcasting systems that execute related art software upgrades include device manufacturers, broadcasters (e.g., MBC, KBS, and SBS), and source devices receiving broadcasting signals such as set-top boxes (STBs) or personal computers (PCs). A related art software upgrade procedure will now be described.
First, the device manufacturers provide the broadcasters with new software. The broadcasters include the provided software in service information (SI) or program service information (PSI), and send the provided software to the set-top box or PC via broadcasting channels.
Next, the set-top box compares the version of the new software to that of the existing software. If it is determined that an upgrade is needed, the set-top box replaces the existing software with the new software, modifies the version number, and reboots in order to execute the new software.
Thus, upgraded software may be periodically downloaded. However, in order to play a predetermined program, codecs must be downloaded prior to the broadcast time.
In addition, since only the software with respect to a predetermined device or devices is downloaded, it is impossible for devices without a remote access interface (e.g., a tuner and the Internet) to upgrade the software.
FIG. 1A illustrates structures of a program association tale (PAT) or a program map table (PMT) included in the PSI received from broadcasters according to the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a transport stream (hereinafter, referred to as “MPEG2-TS”) consists of a transport packet having a fixed size of 188 bytes. The transport packet consists of a 4-byte packet header and a 184-byte data area (i.e., a payload). The packet header includes 8-bit sync information and a 13-bit binary packet identifier (PID).
SI data is service information on programs that includes additional service information such as channel information, and currently aired service and event information.
PSI data is used for easy selection of the program in a receiver. The PSI includes the transport packet containing a PAT, a PMT, or a network information table (NIT)
In the new digital system (NDS)-satellite broadcasting system, software can be upgraded by defining a code download table (CDT) within the PMP and receiving a corresponding table. In a CDT software descriptor, software types (e.g., application software (SW), codecs, and firmware) can be defined and codecs can be received. In an advanced television system committee (ATSC) and the cable broadcasting system, the software may be downloaded based on a digital storage command and control (DSMCC) protocol. The codecs may be downloaded using the same.
In the PAT, PID=0 is fixedly allocated according to the MPEG-2 standard. In addition, all programs that have been time-division multiplexed have their own program number as program-identifying information. The program number may be randomly selected by broadcasters.
For example, a receiver parses a packet header of a transmitted transport stream and if PID=0, PAT information is included in the data area. The number of a program to be played (e.g., program 3) and the corresponding PID can be identified via the PAT.
When playing program 3, the program 3 PID (e.g., 1127) is checked and a transport stream having a PID of 1127 is read from the received transport stream.
When a stream having a PID of 1127 is received, PMT information included in the data area is read, the PID in the PMT is checked, and desired data (e.g., video and audio data) is downloaded. The PMP of each program contains the program number of the program and the PID of the transport packet containing the program's video and audio information.
Furthermore, a stream type in the PMT is checked and a codec used by the corresponding stream type can be identified. For example, referring to FIG. 1A, the video in program 3 is in MPEG-2 format (ISO/IEC 13818-2).
FIG. 1B illustrates an EPG in a related art broadcasting system.
A set-top box receives program and system information protocol (PSIP) from broadcasters, and creates an EPG by mapping information such as a system time table (STT), a master guide table (MGT), a virtual channel table (VCT), a rating region table (RRT), an event information table (EIT), and an extended text table (ETT).
That is, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, information on programs is provided in columns, and information on broadcast time and program titles is provided in rows. For example, “One Life to Live” is highlighted in the EPG.
Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 2002-149536 (Communication Terminal Device, Program Updating Method, and Storage Medium) discloses an apparatus for upgrading the firmware of a video codec or an audio codec, wherein a user makes a request to a firmware upgrade server and ensures that the connection with the server has been established, video channels, audio channels, and data channels are opened, and new firmware is received from the server and stored in a random access memory (RAM). A system controller closes the video and audio channels, updates the firmware area for the video codec and the audio codec of a flash memory, uses the updated video and audio codecs, opens the video and audio channels, and displays them. That is, for example, a client has a video conference with someone in a service center receiving information on an upgrade, and makes a request for the upgrade by selecting a video-codec-upgrade menu. However, the none of the above systems, apparatuses, or methods disclose a technique to guarantee quality of service (QoS) by receiving new codecs via the broadcasting channels, and to update the codecs without menu selections.